Psyche
by Jumping Beans Of Doom
Summary: He was all fortified armor, bullet-proof and impenetrable. She was always by his side, relentlessly pounding until he let her in. /A Collection/
1. Chapter 1

**Pop**: "How on earth did you get the computer to explode?"

"Ummmm. Luck?"

**Disposable:** When it came down to it, Mai wasn't truly needed. She was just the assistant. She could be replaced, fired, or just plain gotten rid of at the drop of a hat. But she took comfort in the fact that she was still here.

**Chance**: Sometimes Mai thought hard about the circumstances that had led up to her working for him. There were just so many coincidences. What if she hadn't been in the classroom at the exact time he had come in, or if she had never gone to check out the haunted building? What if someone else had? Naru would have hired them instead. And then where would she be?

**Phone:** Naru had finally figured out why none of the clients had called back for their appointments.

"Mai, stop telling clients that we're the Ghost Busters."

**Computer:** Bou-san and her would joke about the similarities between Naru and the computer. Both were analytical, cold and very, very smart. But, as funny as the comparison was, it actually scared her more than she'd like to admit. Naru spent so much time working, and hardly ever took any breaks. And if he crashed, Mai didn't know what she would do.

**Stair:** "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you actually trip over your own feet and fall down an entire flight of stairs yesterday?"

"Well, yea, that's the basic story."

"I see."

"And what's that supposed to mean!"

"Nothing. But, it does answer some questions."

**Grinch:** "You're a vile one, Mr. Daaaviis! You have termites in your smile!'

"Mai, this is enough, the movie ended an hour ago.'

"You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Daaaviis!"

"Mai, this is getting to be a bit much. This is the fifty-seventh time you have repeated this song, and I don't care how inebriated you are at the moment, this has to stop."

"Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocoddiiillleee!"

"_That is it_. You are getting a pay cut, one that is effective immediately."

"Hey! That's not fair, Naru!"

"So, I'm 'Naru' now?"

**Cut:** Sometimes, the team asks her why her hair is cut so short. Mai tells them that it's for purely economic reasons. Having less hair means that she had less to shampoo and condition! Then she would laugh with them at her frugal orphan nature, and both question and false answer would quickly be forgotten.

Sometimes, Naru asks her why her hair is cut so short. And under his calculating gaze, she tells him the truth that the others didn't ask for. Her mother had always braided her hair when she had been young. Mai would just wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, and then sit herself down in her mother's lap, waiting until her mother finished braiding her hair. After her mom was gone, she hadn't known how to do it herself. And every time she had looked in a mirror, she had been reminded why.

So, she had grabbed the nearest pair of scissors, rusty ones that had mainly been used for opening bills, and she had cut it all off to the nub. When Mai gets to this part in the story, she stops. She glances at Naru with a haunted look in her eyes, and she asks him a question. Was that wrong of her? Her mother had always loved her hair, and Mai had stayed up many nights with her, just combing their hair together. Her mom had always praised her for how cute she had looked with her little twin plaits.

Was it wrong for Mai to feel _happy_ that her hair was short? To feel happy that she didn't have to keep being reminded of how her parents were both gone? This was a question that she did not have an answer to, and one that Naru, even with the multitude of degrees at his disposal, did not know how to answer. So he didn't. He opened his mouth and told her why he wore black, hoping to make the playing field more equal.

**Heat:** "Naru, _fix it_."

"I've called the air conditioning repairman five times already, they're coming over as fast as they can. So stop whining."

'Ughh, but you called them an hour ago. How long are they going to take?"

"Judging by how the traffic outside is, a little longer."

"Nooo. Naru, make it better!"

"Mai, what makes you think that I can just magically make it better?"

"But you always make things better!"

At these words Naru took his eyes off of the young woman that was still languishing atop the couch, bemoaning the hellish temperature. Mai thought of him that highly? He couldn't help but give a pleased smile, relishing the satisfaction this gave him. Of course, he hid this behind a hand so that she couldn't see it. He was quite used to other people placing him atop a pedestal, but, with all the times she had cut his achievements down, he hadn't realized she might have been doing the same. Naru quickly snapped out of his thoughts at her next words.

"How on earth are you wearing that?"

"Wearing what?"

"All of that!"

Naru frowned. Despite the temperature, he still hadn't seen it fit to change from his all black ensemble. Judging by Mai's glare, she was probably jealous by how he still wasn't sweating, while she looked as if she had been dunked into a pool. Well, mind over matter, he always said. Of course, Mai had absolutely no right to be commenting about what anybody was wearing. So, he answered her with the same question.

"How are you wearing that?"

"What do you mean? My outfit is fine!"

"What little of it there is."

**Involvement:** Valentine's day always proved to be nothing more than an irritation to Naru. Between Takigawa's innuendos and Ayako's not-so-subtle hinting about his non-existent love life, the only place he could find any peace was in his office. A flash of red by the window made him look up. Shocked at the sight, he quickly looked down and tried to distract himself with some work. All while silently chanting _'I did not just see Yasuhara dressed as cupid.'_

**Letter:** There had been a time, after he had left, that Mai had thought about sending him a letter. She had spent hours on it, pouring out all of her grievances, heart aches, and her feelings. When she had finally finished, she had stared at the pages for a few minutes. Then she had ripped them up, right down the middle. Mai had spent her entire life struggling to become independent. She'd be _damned_ if she let herself fall to pieces over him.

**Mortality:** Strangely enough, Mai had never thought of him as just human. Naru was too smart, too in-control, and just too powerful to be classified as the same as everybody else. It was only when he had collapsed, with Lin screaming at him to _'breathe'_ had she realized that he could actually die.

**Exploitation:** "But, Naru, it's Saturday!"

"The problem?"

"You can't just barge into my house and tell me to make you tea!"

**Sign:** He had been thinking of it in more of a symbolic sense, but the giant blinking sign that read 'Just Ask Her Out Already!' would do. Still, there was the question of how they had they managed to sneak that into his office.

**Film:** "Hey Naru, have you ever thought of filming our cases? You know, so you can make a movie out of them? We could be famous and-"

"No, Mai."

**Wedding:** "So you won't watch a movie with me, but you'll watch a wedding on television?"

"It's Prince William's wedding."

"But my movie is about royalty too!"

"I am not going to watch The Princess Bride with you, Mai."

**Wishing:** Mai used to wish for a lot of things. She wished for a family, she wished that the suffocating loneliness would stop, and she wished for someone who could actually love her. After her time at SPR, she could safely say that she didn't need wishes anymore.

**Inch:** Naru rarely had time to ponder about how their relationship worked. But when he did, he found that he could sum it up in just a few words. He gave an inch, she took a mile.

**Altogether:** No matter what happened, no matter how much trouble they were in, they would always have each others back.

**Tank:** He was all fortified armor, bullet-proof and impenetrable. She was always by his side, relentlessly pounding until he let her in.

**Game:** "Wow Naru, I never knew you were so horrible at Go-fish."

"We're playing chess next."

**Red:** The shoes were gorgeous. Bright red pumps, designer, and very, very expensive, which she could see by looking at the price tag. There was no way that she could ever afford these, no matter how much she wanted them. Mai sighed and moved to put them away. She would just have to look somewhere else for some new shoes.

"Miss, those shoes have already been purchased for you." said the salesclerk beside her.

"What?" she responded, confused.

The salesclerk responded by pointing to a young man standing by the wall, with his back ramrod straight and his cool blue eyes looking off to the side.

**Phantom:** The boy stood confused beside her. Well, not so much 'stood' as floated. Mai had never met anyone with hair that white, and definitely nobody who could shoot green lasers at malevolent ghosts. She opened her mouth to thank him for saving her from the strange ghost, but the ghost kid beat her to it.

"So, you some new kind of ghost?"

Burying her head in her hands in embarrassment, she couldn't help but think how she should have known better than to astral project herself so she could scope out the town. And Naru really should have thought a little more about taking a case in a place called 'Amity Park'.

**Astronomer:** Mai wouldn't call herself a professional, but she thought that she knew quite a bit about stars.

"See Naru, that's a froggy over there, and that one's a flaming poodle and that one-"

**Grade:** He stared incredulously at the piece of paper in front of him.

"Mai, when I said that we would be having employee evaluations, I didn't mean like this. And just why did you give me an F?"

**Glance:** She took him in only through the corner of her eye. Him, only when she didn't seem to be looking. Lin thought both were being completely ridiculous and that they should just suck it up and talk to each other already.

**Blame:** Mai thought that he took on far too much blame for everything. It wasn't his fault that Gene had decided to go to Japan, and it wasn't his fault that he had died, and she would always tell him so. She was okay with not leaving until he understood.

**Mold: **All the psychics he had met had fit some type of mold. That was, all the psychics until his team. He would never understand just how a guitar playing monk, a medium who dressed only in kimonos, an Australian priest, a doctor miko, and an orphan astral-projector worked so well together.

**Dictate: **It was a fundamental rule of the universe. The sky was blue, the earth was round- Naru never asked for anything. He just told them what would happen.

**Kid:** Mai was just walking around, taking a tour of the town. She had promptly ignored Naru's orders to stay in the base as soon as he had given them, because really, who would pass up the chance to explore a place famous for their ghosts? She quickly turned the corner, and gave a start as she crashed into someone. As she fell on her butt, she looked up and saw a familiar face. The same black hair, and blue eyes. "Naru?" The kid gave her a strange look, and informed her that his name was Danny, not 'Naru'.

**Copying:** "Mai, it's just an evaluation of your paranormal knowledge, not a test. So stop trying to cheat off of Yasuhara."

**Distortion:** Everything looked like she was looking at it through a thick sheet of glass. The tears on Ayako's face seemed to shimmer, and the panicked look on Bou-san's face looked comical. Through the corner of her eyes she saw Naru, with an almost scared look that she had never seen on him. Mai tried to open her mouth to tell them how strange they all looked, but she was just so tired. So, she closed her eyes and waited as everything turned dark.

**A/N: Hello All! I do not own Ghost Hunt!**

**It's nice to be back. I will be posting my little drabbles here, and some other stories that I can't possibly fit into The Dawn Daydreamer. A couple will be AU, a couple will be in this prompt format, and a couple will actually be in the world of The Dawn Daydreamer. There's actually a lot going on behind the scenes of that story, and if I was to write every single event, well, we'd never finish. **

**The title of this 'Psyche' is actually Greek for soul, which I thought would be the perfect title for this. This chapter was written in a prompt format. Some are written out, and some of them are just dialogue. A couple of these are actual events in The Dawn Daydreamer, and you may even see references to them in that story. Prompts 'Kid' and 'Phantom' are cross-overs with Danny Phantom, and if I have time, I'll write out an entire chapter for them. **

**I hope you all like this chapter, and please tell me which of these are your favorites. I'll see if I can expand on them in a later chapter. I had a lot of fun writing these! I'm hoping to further explore the Naru and Mai's dynamic in the future chapters. A lot of these prompts actually deal with little moments between Naru and Mai in the office or in her home. I'm going to try to revamp their stereotypical dynamic, which usually has him staying in the office all day and her just sitting around. I think that they gotta talk to each every now and then, and these are my ideas of how that would go. After all, Naru's human too. **

**If you guys have any prompts you want me to do, just tell me and I'll try to include them in the next prompt based chapter! The next chapter is an AU story, and, to make up for my long break, I'll be uploading it next week. All I'll say about it is that Mai's a teacher. And Naru- well, you guys just have to wait to see that. It's already done, but it's all kinda long, so I'm having some trouble finding all the little errors. Wish me luck!  
><strong>

** Thank you all for reading!  
><strong>


	2. Wasteland

"Miss. Taniyama, I'm hungry"

The sound came from a small boy, his faced scratched up and dirty. He was laying on the hard, cracked cement sidewalk, but his head was turned towards the woman next to him. This woman was sitting on a stacked pile of what looked like broken off pieces of the same sidewalk.

"We all are, but we just have to go a little longer." This voice came from the woman, the oldest in the crowd of children. She unconsciously reached out her hand and tried to rub off one of the dirt spots on his cheeks as she talked.

"According to the map, we're almost there. Then you can have all you food you want, okay? It's late now. Just try and sleep." Her voice was calm, but it was a practiced calm borne out of years of teaching. She withdrew her hand, as it was only smudging the dirt rather than cleaning it. The boy gave a sigh, but did as she asked, pulling his knees up to his chest in an effort to make himself as small as possible.

The woman watched the boy for a few moments longer, then looked away when she was certain that he was asleep like the others. Many other children surrounded her, their bodies all curled up in sleep. The soft sound of their snores resounded around her, echoing off the tall skyscrapers that stood just a little away. The area around them was covered by a thin, translucent barrier, one that glowed gold as it flickered in and out.

The world around them could be described as nothing less than hell. Buildings that had once stood tall were now falling over, with pieces chipping off, making loud 'thwacks' as they hit the ground. Large gouges marred the earth around them, but the marks were suspiciously even. Almost as if made by claws.

Smoke rose from the still burning buildings a little away. The gray tendrils snaked up to the sky, a mockery of the trees that used to stand tall, but were now all ripped apart. The sky itself was dark, and stained a sinister red.

Looking over at the vast landscape of what was once Tokyo, Mai Taniyama could hardly believe that just two weeks ago, it had all been intact. Her and her students were the only living people for miles, the rest either lying dead under the rubble or worse. Eaten. As she turned her head, and gazed down on the scratched faces of her students, she supposed that it was only luck that had brought them this far.

The attack had started at noon fourteen days ago. As a kindergarten teacher, Mai had been been at school, trying to teach her students about the number system. That is, if she could stop one boy from throwing blocks at the girls for getting the answers right. She had nearly wrestled the green block from the boy's chubby hands when the news had come out. A fellow teacher had burst into the room, urging her to come watch the broadcast.

Horrific beasts were attacking Japan. She and the other teachers had dismissed it a joke, some ill thought-out ploy for viewers by a news company. But then the videos started. Distorted shots that looked like they were filmed by camera phones, but they had all shown the same thing.

Burning buildings, and the horrible screeches of something ghastly, something not of this world. They had never seen a complete picture of the larger beasts, just a wing, or a foot. Sometimes it was only their arms as they snatched someone right off the streets. There had been many pictures of the smaller beasts, scampering around the sidewalks, some with extended bellies and grotesque faces. A fellow teacher had said that he had seen one of those before, in an old paranormal book he had borrowed from his grandfather.

A Gaki.

After watching the terrible footage, they had rallied the children together and placed them in the lunchroom. It was the only room in the school big enough to hold them all, and they had stationed a few teachers there to keep the children calm. The rest of the teachers had gone to the teacher's lounge, and had sat with their eyes glued to the television.

Channel after channel had showed more the same. Burning buildings. Desperate screams for help. And the sickening crunch of something eating.

After a few hours of watching the horrific footage, a new broadcast had gone out. All the stations had shown the conference of the great psychics of the world. Only Level Five or above, these psychics were the strongest in the world, and they had come together to explain what was happening.

The barrier between the spirit world and the world of the living had broken down. The great monsters of hell had descended upon the world, and were reaping havoc.

Mai and the other teachers had been shocked at the news. The great psychics had talked for years about how the barrier was weakening, and they had been trying to warn everyone of the consequences. But no one could have expected anything like this.

The great psychics had urged people to go to a safe place, to find the house of the strongest psychic in their area and stay put. These monsters could only be destroyed by someone Level Four or higher, so anybody with a lower Level should just try to run away and hope that the beasts ignored them.

Mai was only a Level One psychic, the lowest of the low. She could barely look into the future, much less take down one of the rotting, dark monsters that prowled the streets. The other teachers hadn't been much better, the highest level being a Level Two psychic, and some having no powers at all.

Well, they were only teachers, not researchers. The children were all too young to even be tested and registered, and their powers were fledgling at best. There was no way that any of them could repel the great monsters if they decided to attack.

They had debated for days on what to do, and on what was best for the children. None of the parents could be contacted, and the phones had stopped working long ago. In the end, the teachers had decided that they just had to stay put and hope that they would survive until someone came to their rescue.

Mai had disagreed. Just thinking about it now made her grit her teeth in frustration. Those self-serving idiots! She had urged and pleaded with them to reconsider, to get away. They had been too close to the center of it all, and they wouldn't have survived if one of the monsters decided to attack. They had needed to find a safe haven, for the sake of the children.

There had been no food in the building, and all they had had to keep them going were the packed lunches the students had brought from their homes. The teacher's lounge had only had coffee, and it wouldn't help stave off starvation. They would have died before anybody could have come.

But no matter what she had tried, they had refused. The principle himself had laid down the law, saying that going out would be nothing less than suicide and that she should just let it go. But Mai couldn't accept this. They were just scared, all of them cowards! They cared too much about their own precious safety, and they didn't even care if the children died as long as they lived.

She had still stayed, of course. Her students needed her. Many had been unaware of what was going on, and had clung to her as their only source of comfort. But, after a few days, it had been clear that someone had to leave. Cabin fever had taken over, and many teachers had become territorial, hoarding what little food remained.

Mai had known that someone had to go, to find help and food and try to bring it back to them. But she couldn't leave the children. In the crowd of the hundreds of other kids in the school, her own would have quickly been forgotten. Many teachers weren't even feeding their own students, and they wouldn't have hesitated to take what food she would have left behind for her own to eat.

So, in the dead of the night, they had left. She had left behind only a note that explained that she would come back, and with help. They had survived by walking in the day, trying to find someone, anyone.

But no one was there.

Instead of the bustling metropolis that she had grown accustomed to, there was only a land of rubble and destruction. They had once thought that they had seen someone, but it had turned out to only be an arm. A single, rotting arm. A Gaki had soon come and she had been forced to run away with her students before it set its sights on them.

Mai had protected her students as best she could. It was obvious that nightfall was when the most dangerous beasts came out. Only the weakest beasts, like the Gaki, could withstand the rays of the sun, even if the smoke was covering most of it up.

So during the day, they had walked. Searching for food, for help. For any sign of humanity.

But, when the night came, they had to scramble into the closest building and hide out until the morning. All the while praying to god that they would live to see the next day. Mai wasn't even sure if a god existed anymore. The screams, the smoke and the raw destruction were too much to bear. Couldn't anybody stop this? Couldn't anybody help?

No, the only person she could believe in anymore was herself. Her fellow teachers had betrayed her, and even her own school had betrayed her. The world had betrayed her.

It was just her and the children now. They were so innocent, and Mai was determined to keep them that way. But it was hard. With every fallen building, with every empty house, and every time they heard the desperate screams echoing through the night air, they had lost a little of that innocence.

But she would protect them, no matter what. Mai had been using what little spiritual power she had to make a small barrier for them, when they slept. She had exhausted all of her energy reserves just to make sure that any low level passing demon would just walk on, unseeing to the sleeping children and woman under the shield.

The only thing that surprised her was that her spiritual power was still here. She should have used it all up a few nights ago, but it still came when she tried to use it. Mai wasn't really sure why, exactly. The only conclusion she could come to was that she was keeping it going through pure stubbornness. She knew it wasn't healthy, that using so much psychic power could only hurt her, but she had stopped caring about her own well being long ago. Right now, her life didn't matter. All that mattered was her duty to keep her students safe.

And, by all rights, she should already be dead. She hadn't eaten in days, preferring to give her portion back to the students. Even after she went scavenging, leaving them alone with a small barrier, she was sure to give them all the food she found.

Mai couldn't even remember the last time she had slept. She couldn't afford to sleep anymore. Her pathetic barriers fell the moment she closed her eyes, so she just kept her eyes open. She wasn't sure what kept her going anymore, whether it was what small spiritual reserves she had left, or pure stubbornness.

Maybe it was the thought that she had to get them to the Haven.

A few days after they had left the school, she had found a dying soldier. The army had been dispatched in the beginning of it all, but it had soon become clear that bullets wouldn't work on the beasts. This soldier had been one of the few survivors of that particular massacre, and she had found him trying to hide in a collapsed building.

After Mai had told him what they were trying to find, he had told them of a safe house, a place his superiors had ordered him to go to. He couldn't get there because his leg had been ripped apart by one of the stray beasts. But they could. The house was somewhere in Tokyo, and it was home to the most powerful psychic in the world.

The Level Seven. Mai had only heard rumors of his existence, and she had dismissed them from the beginning. A man strong enough to lift a 50 kg weight just with his powers? Impossible.

But the soldier had insisted that it was true. He had given her a map, and had told her to find it. Mai had tried to bring him along, she had even started to lift him up, but he had refused. He had said that it was his time. He had even joked that by helping someone, he had finally fulfilled his purpose. And while she had been desperately trying to keep him alive, he had died. With a peaceful look on his face, almost as if he was happy.

It had shattered her.

She couldn't even keep one man alive, so how could she keep an entire class of children alive? Mai had almost gone hysterical, but she had reminded herself to remain calm. The children had been watching, so, in a careful tone, she had explained that the nice soldier man was asleep and that he wanted to be left alone for a while. They had accepted it. She doubted that they had actually believed her, but they had wanted to so badly that they would accept it.

That left her, barely hanging on to what little shreds of sanity she had left. What god would let this man die? What god would let this happen to the world? If there really was a god, why couldn't he help her? Help them?

Mai shook her head to rid herself of those desperate thoughts. This was not the time to let herself get bogged down by those type of ideas, she had to stay focused. She just had to forget about it all. Yet, no matter what, she would always remember that soldier's name. It had been etched onto his dog tag and into her memory. She had first seen it when she had been laying him down in a makeshift burial of rocks when the kids hadn't been looking.

Osamu Yasuhara.

Mai owed him her life. All their lives. She had that same dog tag in the pocket of her shredded pants, along with the map of Tokyo. The map itself was tattered and bloodied, but it was accurate. Well, as accurate as she could tell. The landscape of Tokyo was almost completely leveled, so she had to rely on her own gut feelings on which way to go. And those feelings told her that they were close. Very close.

And so they had walked on, stopping only to rest. The children were exhausted, she could see that much even now, as they slept. Their feet were scratched up, and their shoes had all been lost days ago. Many had open cuts and gashes along their arms and faces from the endless sharp rubble. It seemed like she was always helping a child out of some crevice or another. They were all tired, dirty and hurt. But at least they were alive.

Mai had seen herself once, as a reflection in a piece of shattered glass in a window. She hadn't recognized it. Wild, desperate eyes, and a gaunt face. She had looked like a corpse. Mai remembered how she used to take such pride in her appearance. She used to love shopping for cute clothes, no matter how small her budget was. But she had no time to care about beauty anymore.

It was only luck that had kept them alive. Other than a few Gakis and small demons, they had avoided the worst of the beasts. This was the first time she was actually happy that her Psychic Level was so low. It had become clear, even to the news reporters, that the strongest psychics attracted the strongest beasts. Her pathetic powers wouldn't even call in a small one.

Yet, despite this, she had noticed that something was following them. On the edge of her consciousness, she could sense something. Someone big. Undoubtedly, they were headed towards the same goal. The Level Seven Haven. Mai shuddered to think of what kind of beast a Level Seven attracted. They had to make it there before it came. She wouldn't let herself think about what would happen if it caught up.

"Miss. Taniyama, Miss. Taniyama!"

She whipped her head around to look at one of the children. The same boy from before. He was the smallest and had barely stopped crying for his father during the entire trip. His face was as dirty as the others. But what scared her was the look in his eyes. In all their eyes.

Too old.

"What is it?" Mai asked softly, reaching her hand out to flatten a strand of his hair that had gone out of place.

He calmed at the touch, and answered "Look! The sun's up again!"

She looked up and sure enough, she could see that the the first rays of the sun had already started crossing the sky. Curses, they should have left hours ago. That's what she got for getting lost in her own thoughts.

"Okay, go wake everybody up honey, we're going to go soon." After she had given him the instructions, she slowly got up. Mai stretched to rid herself of the cricks she had gotten in her back. Sitting on a pile of rocks all night was just not good for her back.

She looked out at the vast expanse of land before her. The sun was coming up, but it was barely noticeable against the endless red sky. Mai felt a pang of sadness as she realized that she couldn't even remember what a beautiful blue sky looked like anymore.

Her life before now was just a distant dream, and she could only recall faint memories of it. And the worst was, she couldn't even summon up any regret for that. Mai found herself utterly apathetic to it all. Gone was the cheerful, sunny girl from before. That girl couldn't exist in this world. Not without completely breaking apart.

If she even stopped for a moment to comprehend the disaster her life had become, she would just break down crying. And she wouldn't be able to stop. So, Mai didn't let herself think. Didn't let herself worry. Didn't let herself stop.

She just kept going.

Her children depended on her right now, and they needed her to take care of them, not exhaust herself by freaking out. What they needed was to get to the Haven, and Mai was sure that they were close. There were not a lot of landmarks left to judge by, but she was suite that the Haven was just a little away. Maybe even on the next block.

It had to be.

Mai wasn't sure how much longer they could last. Even without her eating, food had run out a few days ago. The children weren't complaining, but she could see that they were hungry. Sometimes, she would even catch some of them trying to hide their growling stomachs from her.

Rather than make her feel better, it just made her feel like she failed. She couldn't do anything for them! She could lead them, she could protect them, but she just couldn't stop starvation. One girl had even been coughing lately, but all Mai could do was hope that it went away. She felt helpless right now, but all she could do was pretend it was all right. For their sakes.

She watched the children wake up, their limbs sluggish and their faces tired. They stretched their small little arms, and their jaws creaked as they yawned excessively. Kids. You could always trust them to sleep in times of trouble.

Mai couldn't help but give a small smile as she watched. She wanted to help them, but right now they needed more help than she could give. They needed The Haven. The Level Seven Haven was their only hope, and they needed to get there before that beast got to them.

Not for the first time, Mai wondered what the Level Seven would be like. Tall? Short? Everybody knew that psychic powers increased with age, so a Level Seven would have to be practically ancient to have that much power. The image she had in her head was of a gawky old man, one who probably spent all of his time researching and lording his powers over everyone else. Most of the great psychics on TV looked like that.

Or maybe he'd be a nice old man, like those grandfather figures she had seen on TV. She had never met her own grandparents, and her parents had died when she had been a little girl. She had been taken in by a nice teacher, and he had inspired her to work with kids herself.

The sound of footsteps brought her out of her memories. Turning around, Mai saw the little boy she had sent to wake everybody up. But his face was panicked and scared. What had happened?

"Miss. Taniyama, Miss. Taniyama, she won't wake up!" he cried, tears already welling up in the corner of his eyes. His bottom lip was shaking in despair, and the image was made doubly pathetic by a large cut on the corner of his mouth.

Her heart seized with fear. No, this couldn't be happening! She had spent all this time trying to keep them happy, to keep them safe. One couldn't die now! Mai ran, nearly tripping over her own feet, to the lone figure still lying on the floor.

She wasted no time in turning the little girl over and checking for a pulse. Mai waited a few maddening seconds before she found it. Faint, but it was still there. The girl was alive, but not for long. She remembered how the same girl had been coughing, just a few hours ago. She needed medical attention.

Mai took a few minutes to calm herself down before carefully picking up her student. She made sure not to shake her, and after she had adjusted her in her arms, she looked over the other children. A sea of scared faces, all looking at her. For support. For comfort. For guidance.

How could she tell them that she had no idea what to do?

Mai had never known what to do. She had been going on pure instinct, following only her first impulses. Leave the school. Look in that house for food. Look in this abandoned building and find a soldier. These strange impulses were the only constants that she had anymore, but she couldn't tell the children that their very survival was dependent on her 'gut feelings'.

She had to be strong.

"We're almost there. We have to hurry, come on!" With those words, she turned on her heels and walked.

A little further. They could make it. They passed mounds of plaster and rocks, and pushed away any rubble that stood in their way. Mai forced herself to take her mind off of the small child in her arms and just walk. She blinked as fast she could, trying to stop the tears from coming. If she started crying now, she didn't think she could stop. After walking for what seemed like forever, she saw it.

A big building, pristine compared to the wreckage around it. She didn't even need to check the map to check that this was the place. The lack of structural damage to the building spoke enough. No beasts had torn through this place, no sirree.

The children could make out the same, and they gave out a cheer. Mai even let out a whoop of excitement, still careful to hold onto the little girl. They would make it. They would make it! For the first time since she had seen the news broadcast, she allowed herself to feel hope. A dim spark, growing stronger and stronger the more she looked at the building. A smile slowly spread across her face, mirroring the ecstatic grins of the children. She took a few steps, filled with optimism of the road ahead.

Then she heard it.

A deafening roar rang through her ears. The dim spark of hope was quickly extinguished as Mai turned to see a monster.

A gigantic beast, with sharp long teeth. Its coat black and leathery, with sporadic patches that looked like they were rotting. It stepped from clawed foot to clawed foot, moving its head to the side while trying to get a focus on her. It had two wide set eyes, and a large muzzle that looked like it was made out of a pitch dark oil.

In fact, large black bubbles seemed to be forming in the oil, making a soft popping sound as they reached the air. Mai couldn't make out the teeth, and she wasn't even sure she even wanted to. Yet, its eyes were still the worst, especially the way they seemed to stare right at her.

Mai stood frozen for a few minutes. But then beast gave another roar, this one so loud it rattled her very bones. And just like that, the spell was broken. She ran like her life depended on it, which it did. She grabbed what children were around her with her free hand, and tried to keep them close. "RUN!" she yelled at them as she struggled to keep hold of the small, sickly girl who seemed to be going into a coughing fit.

Mai ran towards the safety of the building, her feet pounding and lungs burning with exertion. She turned, only once, and saw it giving chase. One of its steps equaled almost five of her own, which meant that the children were going to be overcome even faster. It was so close to her that she could feel its breath, hot and putrid on the back of her neck. She dug deep inside herself and gave a final burst of speed, one that put a few feet in between them.

She was almost to the door! Mai rammed against it, pounding as hard as she could without letting go of the girl.

"Let us in! LET US IN!" Mai cried, her voice raw and desperate. She rammed her shoulder at the door, again and again. He had to be here,_ he just had to be here_!

A small scream behind her drew her attention away from the house. One of her children! The same boy who had woken up the others, but he was too far from the house! Or rather, too close to the monster. Mai dropped the little girl by the door and ran back. Without thinking, she grabbed a stray piece of wood from the debris and rushed forward.

She was going on her first impulse now, and it told her to react. So she did. Mai slammed the wooden plank against the monster's leg ,which was the highest part of it that she could reach. Mai kept hitting it, making loud 'thwacks' that the monster didn't even seem to notice. Still she kept swinging, keeping at it until the monster slowly turned.

Her breath froze as she took it in. Its eyes had no mercy, no soul. Red as blood, they stared right at her. Her muscles tightened in fear as it leaned in closer. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the little boy run away to the other children by the door. At least they were safe, for now.

"Stay away from my students."

Mai tried to say it in a warning tone, but the words came out squeaky and scared. The beast looked amused, and simply stretched the small flap of skin over its jaws, baring its razor sharp fangs. All two feet of them.

She nearly ran then. But she couldn't, and she knew it. She needed to occupy it, at least until someone came out of the Haven. Mai took her wooden board and, curling her fingers around it like a bat, she swung.

The beast snatched it out of her hands with its teeth and chomped down, crushing it to smithereens. Okay, there went her only weapon. The beast gave another roar, and she was so close that she could smell its breath. Rotting flesh and blood.

Mai stared right back at it, making sure not to flinch. If she was going down, then she would do it with dignity.

The beast raised its monstrous claws, and her knees went weak at the sight. They rushed towards her head, and she prepared herself for death. Maybe she'd see her parents there.

But the blow never came.

The beast stood still, its eyes widening in what looked like shock. Mai didn't move, scared that it would attack at any moment. It almost seemed to as it swayed forward, but it swayed back before it came close enough. Mai thought that she was done for when it opened its mouth, but it only give a weak roar, one that was more gurgled than screamed. Suddenly it fell to the side, and she could see blood gushing out from a crater in its side. Where had that come from?

Mai looked around in confusion, trying to see who had saved her. Then she saw him walking towards her.

Her first thought was that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. His face was something out of a painting, one of the great masterpieces that her parents would take her out to see in the museums. He walked with the slow assurance of someone in control, someone who had no doubts.

Mai couldn't take her eyes off of him. She had never felt like this before. Was he an angel? He looked like one. Maybe there was someone out there, if they had sent someone like him to save her. She was reminded of the old fairy tales she used to read, where the gorgeous knight would come to the rescue of the fair maiden. Well, she wasn't so fair anymore, but maybe she still deserved a knight.

Mai was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't see him looking at her, the smirk on his face suggesting that he knew exactly what she was thinking. She gave a start as he started to talk.

"So you're the powerful psychic that brought this monster straight to us." His voice was so cool and composed that she had to blink a few times before what he said registered.

Powerful psychic? She was just a Level One. The beast had been aiming at him, not at her. That is, if he was the Level Seven psychic. Although, judging by the size of the hole in the monster, he was most likely a really, really powerful psychic. Mai opened her mouth to ask him if he was, but due to her shaking, she had to steady herself before the words came out. "Are you the Level Seven psychic? Is this the Haven?"

He answered her simply. "Yes."

Mai fell to her knees. The children ran towards her, and she hugged them all together, smiling to the fullest of her ability. So, he was the Level Seven. There went the image she had of him. The Level Seven standing in front of her was definitely not old, nor gawky. That's not to say that she was disappointed. A wild happiness was rearing up inside of her, and she felt more secure than she had in days.

At the thought of security, Mai was reminded of the school that she had just come from, and when the security guards had abandoned their posts after the second day. Suddenly, she remembered why she had come in the first place. She took a moment to separate herself from the crowd, and then directed her voice out to him.

"We came from a school a few miles away. There are a lot of kids, and no food or water. You need to help them!" After delivering her plea, she waited for his response. Of course, someone as beautiful as him would also be kind, and generous and -

"No."

Had she just heard right? "What do you mean 'No'?" Mai cried, wringing the tattered remains of her pants in despair.

"We hardly have enough to supply ourselves, and with the constant need to patrol our border, we're running low on personnel. We can't afford to send someone out there. We also just lost someone a few days ago." He continued after that, but she couldn't hear him over the dull roar in her eardrums.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. His eyes, they were so cold. For a moment she was reminded of the beast she had faced down. It had had the same look in its eyes- no pity, no remorse. Mai didn't have time to finish the thought before the children distracted her.

Their small fists gripped her pants as they leaned closer to her. What was going to happen to them? Her world was falling down all around her. No hope, no chance, no way out. As if he heard her thoughts, the cold man spoke again.

"We do have an opening for an assistant. Someone to help with the maintenance and care of the Haven. But the children can't stay." He said the last part almost dismissively, as if he just added it on as an afterthought.

He was no angel. He was a monster, ruthless and cold. Mai would sell her own soul before agreeing to this devil. She looked up, taking him in before responding.

"No. Either take the children, or I won't be a part of this." she said, her voice bitter and hard.

"Do you have any idea what you are saying? You would die within the day." He answered back. His face was finally showing some anger, but it was most likely out of irritation.

"Then you'd be out an assistant, wouldn't you?" she stated, her words mocking.

His eyes glared pure menace at her, but Mai kept her gaze right back at him. She had kept her and her students alive through a hellish wasteland, braved obstacles that most people only see in their nightmares, and faced down a ferocious beast with sharp teeth that were almost as long as her entire arm. She'd be damned if she let this pompous jerk cow her into agreeing.

He broke away first. "Fine. They can stay as well."

Mai felt like celebrating, but she knew she wasn't done yet.

"You also have to send help for the students back at the school. I also have a little girl that needs medical attention." She finished, pointing towards the child still lying at the door of the building.

If looks could kill, she would have died three times over. She knew she was pushing her luck, but it was all necessary. Mai wasn't sure about his resolve, but she knew that she wasn't budging an inch on this. His next words were spoken through gritted teeth. "Fine. But in exchange, you have to take care of them and work off their stay."

"Anything."

The man signed and turned, addressing someone behind him. "Call the army, and tell them to report to that school. Get the exact place from her."

She did it. Finally. He seemed to be completely disregarding her now, so she took this chance to finally relax. Her shoulders slumped down, and Mai let out a deep breath. That horrible man had brought out all the stress in her. But she wasn't done yet, reminded herself. This was no time to start relaxing, she still had a sick student.

Mai staggered forward to the little girl, checking to see if she was still alive. When she found that she was, she let out a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding. The children were still crowding around her, waiting for her to tell them what to do. But she didn't know.

The exhaustion of the last few days finally weighed down on her. It all seemed like an impossible dream now, so much so that if she just closed her eyes, she was sure that it would all go away.

The urge to rest swamped her. Mai had been running on pure adrenaline for the few days, and now it seemed to have run out. She slid down, her back against the door of the Haven. She was so tired. She gazed listlessly back at the man, and realized that she didn't even know his name. With a start, she saw a figure standing next to him.

A very tall man stood next to the Level Seven, his face partially covered by his hair. He was talking into a phone. Was he giving the orders to the army?

A voice spoke up next to her. It was too deep to be one of her students, so she leaped up in surprise, adrenaline rushing through her veins momentarily. Another beast? A monster? Mai wasn't sure if she could handle anymore.

"You look really out of it. Are you okay?"This came from another man, but this one had light hair, tied up in a ponytail. He looked like a much nicer person than the others.

He waved a hand in front of her face, testing for awareness. "Yoo hoo, anyone there?" Then he broke into a big grin at her owlish blinks and exclaimed "By the way, what you did there was really awesome. It don't think anybody has ever stood up to him like that. You have my eternal gratitude."

Mai gave a small smile at that. This man seemed funny. She tried to open her mouth to respond, but found that she couldn't. She was so tired. She slowly slid back down to the floor. Where were all these people coming from? Mai turned her head a little and found that she could see another door, a little further down. This one was open. Okay, now she felt like an idiot. She could have just went through that door, and avoided that entire confrontation.

"Miss. Taniyama! Are you okay? Miss. Taniyama!"

Ah, there were her students. Mai tried to speak up, to tell that that she was fine, that they were all fine now, but she couldn't find the energy. Their voices sounded so distant now. She could barely even feel the hand of the light-haired man shaking her.

"Stay Awake!" His lips moved, but his voice seemed like only an echo.

Her purpose had been the only thing that had been driving her throughout this journey. Find the Haven. Save the children. Now that it was done, so was she. Mai finally understood the words of the soldier. She was barely hanging onto consciousness as she listened around her. She heard the men questioning her students on the last time she had eaten, and one of them cursing as they answered.

So close. She was so close to leaving. Another hand touched her, but she could feel this one. It was warm. Mai summoned up enough energy to look up, just for a moment.

Crystal blue eyes, painfully close.

"You're not getting out our agreement that easily." The words fell like anvils on her head, and with a start, she realized that she could actually hear him. Not the echos that everybody else seemed to be speaking in.

Mai was about to ask him how, when suddenly she felt a shock. She cringed in pain as something attacked her. What was this? Slowly, she realized that it wasn't some attack, and that it was coming from the man.

She felt power, so much spiritual power. Compared to her own pathetic excuse for psychic energy, this felt like light itself. It coursed through her veins, like an electric current, burning her the entire way.

It hurt.

It hurt so much! It was ripping her apart, her head, her arms, her being_. _Her body felt like it was being destroyed, ripped apart, completely _obliterated_. Mai tried to scream, but it was muffled by a hand over her mouth. His hand.

"Just take it. If you stop you stop fighting, then you'll get better, idiot." He stated this in a rather annoyed tone, and she could make out his lips curling in irritation.

Mai listened. She didn't know why, but she listened. She slowly relaxed, trying to ignore the pain. She was surprised when it did get better. The power felt calm now, refreshing. Mai took a moment to revel in it. She could almost sense part of him in it, the crystal smoothness. But it was warm, so warm.

It _felt_ like a nice summer day, with the hot sun beating down, and she was lying down in a soft blanket, watching the beautiful blue sky. She'd almost forgotten how a blue sky looked like, but it all came back to her with his spiritual powers. Not so much a picture of the scene, but how being that there would feel. Happy. Comforting. Safe. Mai hadn't felt this safe in days, or rather years.

The feelings that the energy brought out reminded her of when her parents had been alive. When her mom would take her out to a picnic, and Mai would spend the entire trip napping in the shade of a tree. It had been so long since she had felt like this. Felt like she wasn't alone in the world.

Mai took back every bad thing she had ever thought about him. Someone with power like this had to be a good person. Yet, he acted like he was above this world, so cold and arrogant. But, spiritual powers were supposed to represent the core of a person, their very life's essence. So, what had happened to him to make him act like that?

It seemed to be over far too quickly. Mai felt his hands move away, and she felt a pang of regret for the loss of warmth. But she was surprised to find that she could move now. She blinked away the confusion and looked around.

Her children were still attached to her, their faces lined with worry as they looked up at her.

"I'm fine." Mai barely had the words out of her mouth before they jumped on her. "Miss. Taniyama!"They cheered together, a great cacophony of sound. She hugged each of them back, taking the time to squeeze them all closer.

Finally, she turned to the men. They stood smiling, or at least, the light-haired one did. The one with his hair covering his eye was looking rather apathetic about the whole thing, while the Level Seven had a look of repulsion on his face, almost as if the affection in the scene somehow disgusted him.

Mai licked her dry lips before asking "What was that?" How had he given back all her strength, her power, with just his psychic energy? She couldn't feel the cuts and scraps from before, and she didn't feel stressed anymore. Or even scared. Mai wasn't an expert on psychic powers, but she did know that none of them did that.

"It's the atmosphere. After the barrier broke, the energy that had been trapped in the spirit realm escaped here. Psychic powers can do a whole lot more now." It was the light-haired one who answered her, in the tone of a professor dictating to his students.

He scratched the back of his head before continuing "Your own power was what probably kept you alive. Not eating for all that that time was really dumb, by the way." He cocked his head to the right as her gave her a pointed look of disapproval.

"If I ate, then there wouldn't be enough for the children." Mai answered back, her voice taking a hard tone. She would not have them criticizing her for her choices.

The man blinked, as if surprised. Then he gave her a big smile and said "Well, that's a good a reason as any."

"But it was still stupid." This came from the Level Seven, his voice as cold as when she had first heard him. Mai felt another pang of sadness. He wasn't really like this, she had seen it. She quickly shook it away, and asked another question.

This one had been bugging her for a bit. Biting her bottom lip, Mai started out cautiously. "Are you guys sure you want me to help with this?" After taking in their looks of disbelief, she quickly added.

"I mean, you're all probably really powerful psychics, and I'm, well I'm just a Level One. I'm not really powerful or smart, so why would you want me?" She said the last part in a low tone as she ducked her head, ashamed.

Mai gave a start as she heard laughter. It came from the light-haired man, who was clutching his sides as his laughs came out in large guffaws. Yet, it was the Level Seven who answered.

"You're no more a level one than I am. Your powers must have come recently, in response to the danger you were in. Although, your intelligence is questionable." He said it with the cold calmness that she first seen from him, although he did seem to smirk in amusement.

Wait, did he just compliment her or insult her? Mai decided to get angry either way.

"Hey!" She cried, embarrassed and blushing bright red.

The light-haired man finally stopped laughing, but he was still smiling as he spoke. "You better get used to that. Noll may be a level seven, but he's always a grade A jackass." He pointed his thumb towards the Level Seven as he explained.

Noll. So that was his name. Mai realized that even though they had just saved her life, and the lives of her students, they didn't even know her name.

She stood up, making sure to carefully push the children off of her lap, and straightened before talking. "Oh yea, my name is Mai. Mai Taniyama."

The light-haired man responded. "My name is Takigawa Houshou. I'm the sane one around here. That there's Lin, and yes, he's always like that. You already know Noll, otherwise known as Oliver. He's the genius jerk who just saved your pretty little butt." She turned to Noll, and was about to thank him properly before he beat her to it.

"Don't worry, you're going to work off every bit of energy I transferred." He gave a smirk at her shocked reaction.

That jerk! That insufferable, arrogant, pompous, gorgeous, powerful, warm-

Where on earth was she going? Mai shook her head to get rid of those ridiculous thoughts before shooting him a dark look. Right before she was about to insult him back, a small tug on her pants made her look down.

It was the small boy, his eyes shining with something akin to hope.

"It it okay now?" He whispered, almost as if afraid of the answer. Mai looked around her, and took in the destruction. The buildings were still demolished, the sky was still red, and they were still as dirty and scratched up as they had been this morning. And now they had a sick little girl, who was still lying by the door, her chest barely moving up and down as she breathed.

But, then Mai looked at into the faces of the men standing around them. Her gaze lingered at Noll's face for a moment before answering.

"Yes, it's okay now."

**A/N: Hello All! I don't own Ghost Hunt!**

**It's awfully nice to be writing again. I understand that there's probably a whole bunch of questions about this chapter, and I'll try to help you out! This is an AU, one set in a world were people are registered for their spiritual powers, and given Levels. Mai is a schoolteacher who is a Level One. Of course, the people who tested her most likely didn't take 'animal instincts' into account. If you have more questions, just ask!  
><strong>

**Also, I tried to put as many parallels between this AU and the real story as I could. Mai has the same childhood, and the only difference is that she never met Naru or joined SPR, and instead became a teacher. The teachers from this fic are the same teachers from all the school cases that SPR has had. The children are the same from the orphanage where John sometimes works, and that little boy is the same one from the case where Mai was possessed by him. Anybody wanna guess where I got the large black dog, otherwise known as 'Beast'?  
><strong>

**Well, I must say that I'm absolutely terrified of your reviews. Tell me if you like these type of AU stories, cause I have around five more different ones that I want to load off here. Of course, if you don't like them, I'll try to focus some more on the actual Ghost Hunt universe. **

**If you end up liking this AU, then you'll love our next one. All I'll say about it is that it's in Naru's head, and it is about an asylum for psychic youths. I have most of it written already, but I'm gonna hold off uploading it until you guys tell me what you think of this AU stuff. As for the next chapter, it's going to be set in 'The Dawn Daydreamer', and it's going to focus more on Mai and Naru's dynamic.  
><strong>

**Thank you all very much for reading!  
><strong>


	3. Storm

It was dark.

The pitch black of night surrounded her on all sides, and it seemed to push against her very skin. Hands reached out towards her from the dark, invisible but so very cold. Mai could only squirm away from the icy fingers of the shapeless wraiths, too scared to step forward into the bleak emptiness. Her imagination ran wild, and her heart raced with every new possibility.

She spun around, straining her eyes to find an indication of where to turn. But there was nothing. The suffocating blackness spread like tar on her skin, causing it to crawl in fear.

"Guys?" Mai called out, growing even more frightened with every second that there was no response.

"Hello? Anybody?" She cried to the black hole around her, but to no avail. There was no answer. Mai couldn't even remember how she got here, she only had the faint memory that this was a case of some kind, one where the entire team had come along. But, if that was true, where were they?

"Anyone? Naru?"

She called out feebly, her small voice pathetic as it echoed around. She strained her ears for any answer or sound that might indicate his presence. But the only sounds other than her own voice were sinister scratches and moans, ones that seemed to reverberate in the emptiness surrounding her.

Goosebumps erupted on her arms, and Mai shivered as she thought of what could be out there. She kept waiting for a response, any response, and when none came she decided to take a hesitant step forward. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting something to come out and grab her right then, but when nothing happened, she relaxed.

"Anybody here?" Mai called out continuously as she waded through the dark mist around her. Wherever she was, it sure was isolated. Maybe she had gone off on her own or something? If so, then Naru was going to kill her. He had already given her a hour long lecture on keeping away from secluded places.

That's why she had been sure to keep near him in the last couple cases. But wait- if she had been trying to keep near him, then why was she out here alone now? Before she could search her memories for what had happened, she spotted a light in the distance.

Two dots really, small pinpricks of light that were low to the ground. Mai wasn't sure if those lights were the presence of a friend or a foe, but she had no choice but to find out. She was utterly lost, and if she didn't figure out what had happened, she would never find her way back.

So, taking a shaky breath inwards and gathering what courage she could find, she headed towards the lights. She could do this! No creepy, dark, empty space was going to get the better of her, no sirree. Mai tried to keep up a brave air, hoping that if she acted like everything was just fine, it might actually be. She stomped her feet down as hard as she could, and took a small comfort in the sound of her own footsteps. It was the only normal sound she could hear.

Strangely enough, the two lights were moving towards her as well, and rather fast. Yet, they barely increased in size. Mai squinted to see how far away they were, but she couldn't pinpoint it down. She gave a sigh and kept moving, ignoring the echoing sigh that answered her.

Something was very wrong here. Mai knew that there was something out there, but she couldn't sense what it was. She dug inwards for her psychic powers, but to her alarm, she couldn't find them. She searched harder, straining herself, but nothing came from it. Either they were too weak right now, or something else was interfering with them.

Of all the times for her psychic powers to take a break! She was lost in a scary, dark place and now her psychic powers decided to hightail it. What horrible timing. Her powers were so useless sometimes.

Of course, this had to be the answer. Her power just _had_ to just be taking a small break. Because if that that wasn't true, then something really strong was interfering with them and making her completely powerless. And thinking about that would make her fall to pieces, false bravado or no.

Mai turned her head all around, trying to look through the inky shadows, but she couldn't find any figures. Where was she? She stopped for a moment and reached down, trying to feel for the ground. Maybe if she figured out what the ground was made up, she could at least find out what type of place she was in. Her fingers grazed against something hard, and feeling around some more, she realized it was wood. What the? Did this mean that she was indoors or something?

Almost as soon as she had come to this revelation, the shadows around her seemed to fade. Mai rapidly blinked, trying to adjust to the light. Looking around, she saw that she was in a very long room of some kind. Old fashioned too, with antique furniture and faded paintings. She couldn't make out one side of the room, which seemed to be still shrouded in shadow.

She made a mental note to stay far away from that. Dark, evil things followed her around enough, without her going out of her way to find them. Once she got used to the brightness, she got up and turned to find the two small lights.

Huh? Where were they? Confused, Mai turned around trying to find out where they had gone. Maybe they were hiding behind the furniture or something. She tried to take a step forward to search around, but a pressure on her foot stopped her.

"What the-"

Mai snapped her head straight down, and gave a strangled cry at the sight. An ornate, polished doll stood at her feet, its hair golden and wavy. A little bow sat atop its head, but it was black and burnt. Glassy blue eyes, sinister and gleeful, stared back up at her horrified face, and her fear only grew as she took in what was above its eyes. A smoky burnt on cross laid in the center of its forehead, mocking her with her own memories. She cried in terror as its hand reached out towards her.

"NO! You're gone! We exorcised you!" This couldn't be happening,_ this couldn't be happening_. She repeated this over and over in her head like a mantra, but it did nothing to erase the existence of the doll, which was still looking up at her. As her panic grew, Mai kicked out at it, hoping to send it flying or at least for her foot to pass through it, like some sort of hallucination. But the only thing that came from her action was a dull ache that was quickly spreading from her toes. Minnie refused to budge.

Rather than moving, its small delicate hand reached out and grabbed her foot, its grip vice like.

"Get off, get off, GET OFF!" What was it doing! Panic, pure and strong, raced through her veins, and Mai screamed as loud as she could in an effort to alert the team. She tried to run away, but her efforts were thwarted by Minnie, who, with a supernatural strength, pulled her foot forward until Mai tripped backwards.

_'Crack'_

Her head hit the floor hard, and she saw stars floating around in the edge of her vision. She couldn't even gather enough air to groan in pain, for the fall had knocked it all out of her. For a few panicked moments, she struggled to get air into her lungs, which seemed to be unresponsive.

With a gasp, air finally rushed in, and Mai regained the use of her lungs. She found herself staring straight at the ceiling above her. Which seemed to be dripping with blood. Her cries started anew, and she called for help as loud as she could.

"GUYS! Please, help me!"

At first, Mai thought that the ceiling was moving, but then she realized the the reality was much worse. The doll, still holding her by the foot, was walking backwards and dragging around towards the dark end of the room. She tried to kick, to somehow free herself, but Minnie would not have it. Its tiny hands held onto her right ankle tightly, and it seemed unaffected by her frantic struggles.

Mai tilted her head as far as it could go so she could see where it was taking her. The end of the room that had been shrouded in shadow! It hadn't lightened up, not even a bit, and in fact, it was getting darker by the minute. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what seemed to be dark hole at that end of the room. Her heart raced as she saw small wisps of white smoke curl out of the edges, looking for all the world like small fingers. Spirits.

"Please, please, somebody, ANYBODY, HELP ME!"

She screamed once again, but no one answered. Eyes wild, she tired to grab onto something to stop her movement, but all the furniture was out of reach. Mai managed to grab the edge of a coffee table that was close, but it broke apart the moment her fingers touched it. In desperation, she dug her nails into the wooden floorboards, and gritted her teeth at the pain. Despite all this, she never once stopped her calls.

"Bou-san! Ayako!"

The doll seemed to revel in her panic, but it kept its pace strong. Its painted face never changed expressions, and although it gave no outwardly appearance of menace, Mai swore that she could see unadulterated malice rolling off of it in waves of red.

"Masako! Yasuhara!"

The wood splintered under her fingers, and the tips soon became wet from the blood. Her nails were ripped off by the sheer speed of her movement, but Mai couldn't even register the pain.

"John! Lin!"

She was frightening close to the precipice, and now the white tips of smoke rose up and gathered as one. Mai's terror grew all the more at the sight of a female spirit dressed in a formal kimono with her hair tied up in a bun. What was this?

Tomiko's mother had passed over when she had found her daughter, Naru himself had given her the hitogata! Mai feared that her heart would burst from sheer terror as it raised its head to show its dull, evil eyes. What was going on here? They were supposed to be gone, all of them! But here they stood, mocking her very memories.

"Naru! Please, _oh please, Naru!_"

Her voice cracked from pure desperation, but as before, no one answered her. She couldn't help but feel disappointed somehow, even through her panicked terror. Why wasn't he here? He was always supposed to be here. Why wasn't he coming? Did she do something to make him mad at her? Was that it? He didn't care about her anymore?

She had no time to worry further on this, for Minnie suddenly stopped, inches away from the hole. Mai gave a relieved sob at this, hoping that the nightmare had ended, but her hopes were dashed to pieces at what grabbed her next.

Four hands, rough and hard on her legs. They reached out from the hole itself, and they felt sickeningly familiar. She gave a choked cry as images of a dark surgical room, and a bloody floor flashed through her mind, further fueling her hysteria.

Minnie watched by the side, giving the same painted smile at her efforts to escape. It stood by the hole, unwilling to go further, but it had no need to as the hands were now pulling her in at a much faster rate.

The smell of blood, metallic and sharp clogged her senses, and Mai fought the urge to puke. In a fully fledged panic, she spun her head around, trying to see if anybody was coming. Hope rose as she found that she could make out a figure coming closer. She couldn't see who it was, but it must be someone from the team, here to save her! They came!

Mai reached out her hand, and the figure quickly grabbed it. For a moment, she truly believed that she was saved. Then she realized that the person was gripping her hand way too hard. She winced, and murmured "That kinda hurts..."

Her voice died out as the figure came forward into the light. She quickly pulled to snatch her hand back, gagging at the stench. Her hand came back bruised, and stained with some dark liquid. But she couldn't give those details even the smallest attention. Mai could only gaze in terror at the creature before her.

A scrawny old man, with a wide grin that stretched across its wrinkled face. Urado. His wrinkled smile grew as she was pulled further away, and his hateful eyes never stopped watching her. By now, Mai's lungs ached with the effort of her cries, and her fingers had long ago become numb. Even with her bruised hand, she still tried to keep her grip on the floor, hoping that it would somehow stop her movement.

"Help! Please, anybody! HELP!"

She nearly sobbed the words, still desperately trying to free herself. Where was everybody? Why couldn't they come? Mai gave a cry as the lower portion of her body fell, so that only her torso was hanging outside of the hole. She gripped the floor with a renewed effort, but even the resistance it created was nothing compared to the hands that were pulling her back.

"_Mom! Dad!_"

Her cries turned to begs, wracking wheezes of emotion as she desperately hoped for the impossible. Where were they? Her calls turned up no one, but still Mai kept at them. Her entire body was almost in the hole, and only her head could look over the edges. She could feel the cold fingers of the spirits skimming her ankles, and she looked around the room, hoping to see someone, _anyone_.

But it was empty.

No one was here to save her.

Only the malice filled eyes of Urado and Minnie started back at her, while Oshima Hiro floated a little above them, her eyes dull and empty. All were mocking her for her hopes.

Right before she completely fell back, the cold dark reality hit her. No one was coming. She was completely alone, with only the dead for company. Nobody was here to save her this time. Nobody was coming. Nobody cared. The hands gave a final pull, and Mai, in her hollow state, easily lost her grip on the wooden floor.

She spiraled downwards, numb to her situation. She stopped screaming. What was the point? No one was coming. The voices of the spirits were the only sound in the dark space, and they kept repeating the same word. It beat against her head, making it pound like a drum.

alone, Alone, ALONE, ALONE!

Mai gasped as her eyelids ripped apart. Her breath came in pants as she quickly sat up in her bed, clutching her heart in fear. She looked around, and found that she was in her bedroom. Her small trinkets and personal items surrounded her, and she calmed down a little.

She took a few moments to wipe the beads of sweat off of her forehead, and then she listened to the pitter patter of the rain. It fell hard against the window by her bed, and it formed a curtain of water against the outside world.

The storm was in full force now, tearing outside with almost unearthly winds. It had started out as mere drizzle in the afternoon, but now it seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, with lightening carving deep gouges across the cloudy sky. But, through the thick sheet of rain on her window, the light spread out across her blanket, illuminating the colorful cartoon frogs.

It was just a dream. Mai kept repeating this to herself, in the hope that she could somehow make it true. This was the first nightmare that she had had in a long time, so of course it would seem scary. She reminded herself that they had exorcised those spirits, and that they were all gone. There was nothing to be scared of. But, in truth, that wasn't why she was still shaking.

In a part of her that she tried so hard to keep down, she knew that it had all been true. Not the appearance of the spirits, but rather the fact that she was alone. Sure, she had the team, but they all had their own lives and families. And everybody in her family was dead. She would never again hug her mother, or have her parent's comfort.

And no matter how hard she pretended otherwise, the team would never be a true family for her. And Mai wasn't even sure that she wanted them to be. Her family members all had a bad habit of dying, and leaving her all alone. Everybody she had ever loved was dead, after all. It kind of makes a person wonder whether or not it was their fault. Maybe their deaths had less to do with accidents, and more to do with her.

It was a possibility that she simply didn't deserve love.

There were times that she could forget her situation, but never for long. A little girl with braids walking down the street, a picture of her mother or even a bright, colorful flower. At they sight of these things, Mai was reminded of the horrible truth. She was pathetically alone.

This nightmare only served to reinforce this fact. A small part of her wished that she could go back into the dream, because at least there she could pretend that the loneliness was a sinister lie by the malevolent spirits. But here, in the real world, the stark reality of her situation hit her like a brick.

The blinking red numbers on her alarm clock told her that the time was _2:47 am_, and her body further cemented this with the weight of exhaustion that seemed to press into her very bones. Mai heaved a sigh; of course one of the only nights that she didn't dream that peculiar dream, she could have a nightmare. The pain medicine probably hadn't helped either. She glanced down in her right hand, and even in the darkness of the room, she could still make out the white bandage around it.

Mai groaned, berating herself yet again on the ill thought out punch to that nursemaid. Bruised her knuckles real bad, probably 'cause that was the first punch that she had ever thrown. Well, the first one that had actually done some damage. Still, someone could have told her that her thumb should not have been clenched too.

That had hurt. And the still throbbing pain was probably what had inspired some of that horrid nightmare. Particularly the part with Urado squeezing the life out of her hand. The fact that she had somehow rolled over on it during her sleep didn't help either. She cradled her hurt hand, trying to make it disappear.

The stitches from the bottle she had taken to the head had been taken out a while back, but her hand still stubbornly refused to heal. Must have gotten it from her. Mai wished that she could sink back into her bed, and hopefully have that nice dream instead, but she knew that she was too scared to do so.

Even now, the images of stricken terror from the nightmare flashed through her head, and painted themselves onto the back of her eyelids. Every shaded corner in her room seemed to be filled with unspeakable horrors. The curtains were spirits, ghostlike and thin. The space under her bed had strange noises coming from it, maybe like those from Urado, waiting until she fell back asleep so he could finally have her blood.

Trying to shake the fear away, she tried to look to other places in the room, but she found her eyes drawn to her closet. For a heart-pounding moment, she could almost swear that Minnie was looking right back at her from the space underneath it, its eyes glowing like two small pinpricks of light.

Okay, that settled it, she was getting out of here. Mai rolled out of her bed, but kept the blanket wrapped around her like a shield. She winced as her bare feet touched the cold floor, but she pressed on ahead, and took a few more steps away from the bed. The blanket was too big for her to keep up, so part of it fell with a soft thud on the wooden floor.

Mai jumped at the sound, but then quickly reproached herself of doing so. Just because she had a little, teensy, weensy nightmare, didn't mean that she had to start being a total scaredy cat. There was nothing to be scared about, so she should just stop trembling right now!

The words felt hollow even in her own head, so Mai quickly scanned around for the door. She hadn't been living here for too long, so it took her some time to find its outline by her right. Light filtered in from around the edges, leaving her to wonder whether she had left the television on.

Mai walked towards the door, putting one hand out to feel her way around, while the other hand held her froggy blanket around her. It trailed behind her like a cape, making a slight swishing sound as it slid across the hard floor.

Super Mai to the rescue! No scary ghosts were going to get her with her cape now, no way, they were all too scared of her inherent awesomeness. Urado couldn't grab her leg and pull her under the bed when she was Super Mai! She walked forward, strutting to stave off the fear that came with being in the dark room, all alone.

As soon as she felt the cold outline of the doorknob, Mai pulled it open, and blinked at the sudden onslaught of light. Once she had adjusted to it, she starting walking down the short hallway. Oh no. Did she leave the lights on? She sped up, trying to turn it off before her bill got any bigger.

But at the opening of the living room, she came to a startling halt, and gaped open mouthed at the sight before her. Naru. He had come. Or rather, he had never left. Papers laid in organized stacks around him, and he was holding a folder in his hands, reading some form from it.

Mai felt a familiar rush of anger at his presence. That stupid man! It was disturbingly late, but here he was, still working. Madoka had probably forced him out of the office hours ago, but, being the workaholic he was, he had probably just used his keys to come into her place just to keep working.

Any other normal person would have dark circles the size of a craters after staying up so late, but Naru, being an obviously superior being, looked better than most people do with a full night of sleep. Still, staying up this late was bad for him! Now, he'd wake up at an obscene hour of the day, or rather _afternoon_, and be completely grumpy from lack of sleep.

He wasn't even sitting right! A normal person would slouch, or maybe lay down on the couch, but not Naru. He was at the right end of the couch, sitting up completely straight. Stupid British people and their perfect postures. One day he would have horrendous back problems, she just knew it. That man couldn't relax to save his life!

He was just so- ugh! Mai was moved to utter speechlessness at his horrible, horrible habits. She started to straighten herself up in order to chastise him, but then suddenly deflated.

She didn't have the energy for this. Trying to influence Naru was like trying to move a mountain, a particularly stubborn one, who had enough good looks to send her reeling from any distractions he put up. Besides, this was his place, she was just living in it. Well, Mai thought as she eyed the platter of cookies and the cup of tea on the table, at least he was eating.

She gave a loud sign at how easily content she was at the smallest of improvements, but Naru heard the sound, and his head snapped up to stare at her.

He tensed in preparation for her scolding, but Mai decided to surprise him and give a small smile back. At least he was here. His presence was already calming her down, and she found that her terror from the dream was slowly retreating.

She eyed the couch critically, and saw that his papers and folders were covering up the entirety of the other end, so that she had no room to sit. Not that she wanted to, of course. Mai moved to walk back to her room, deciding that she had had enough for one night.

She should just suck it up and go back to bed. Really, if she started getting scared at every little thing, then well, with the kind of cases they went on, she was sure to drive herself insane. She decided that she would just go back to bed, and leave the door open, just in case.

Despite this, Mai was stopped right in her tracks by what Naru did next.

He leaned over and moved the bulky folders aside, picking them up and placing them on the floor, effectively making enough room for someone to sit. He did so without a word, and once he had finished, he turned back to his folder, returning to his reading.

Mai bit her bottom lip as she stared at the couch, conflicted. She wasn't so naive as to think that he was actually inviting her over, that he truly wanted her company. He had not said so, and Mai knew that Naru would have straight out ordered her to sit if he really wanted her too.

On the other hand, he didn't send her away, didn't cruelly comment on her exhausted and bedraggled appearance. It wasn't an invitation, but it wasn't a refusal either. It was nothing more than an allowance.

And Mai found that she would take what she could get.

She quickly closed the gap to the couch, and gave an _'ompf'_ as she sat down in the plushy expanse of the soft couch. She made sure to keep her distance from him, for she knew that any invasion of his personal space would be ill taken. So, even though all she wanted was to be sitting right beside him, she pressed herself against the left arm of the couch, keeping as far away from him as possible.

Mai curled up on the couch, making sure to keep her bandaged hand free, and wrapped her froggy blanket tight around her. She tried to close her eyelids, but every time that she did, the face of Urado stared right back at her. So, she just kept them open, and tried to relax. The sound of crinkling as Naru turned to a new paper mixed in with the low rumble of thunder from the storm to provide a soothing rhythm, but Mai found that she wanted to fill this silence.

"What are you doing?" She called out, and heard her words echo painfully loud in the space between them. Naru, for his part, paused only a moment before answering, never taking his eyes off of the folder.

"Research for the next case." His tone made it clear that that was all he was saying. Mai fell quiet at this, and pulled her blanket closer around her. Even Super Mai couldn't keep his refusal to talk from hurting.

And so, this was how it went. How it would always go. She would always reach out, and prompt him to respond, but he would always retort in a clipped sentence, only telling her the bare basics. This was their dynamic. She would keep reaching, and _reaching_ for him, but he would always stay out her grasp, an insurmountable distance between them.

Mai squeezed her eyes shut at the inexplicable pain that accompanied this thought, trying to keep from breaking down. Couldn't he tell that she was sick of this? Not sick of him, but rather of the cold silence that he would always respond to her with. The silence that beat her heart black and blue, and made her feel completely worthless. She had gotten quite used to Naru, but not even Super Mai could get used to his icy dismissals.

And quite frankly, she was tired of trying.

Any sane woman would have left long ago, but Mai just stayed, getting herself even more hurt. But who could she blame? After all, they were both simply actors, playing out their respective roles. He was the wealthy boss, she was the humble assistant and never the twain shall meet. Their interactions came straight from some unknown script, rehearsed and carried out in an endless loop.

Even now, when he was but mere feet away from her, the distance between them felt more like miles, or some expansive abyss. One with no bridge across. She would keep walking forward, blindly hoping that he would catch her all the way up to the very end, where she would break apart on the jagged rocks that laid at the bottom.

This abyss came straight off of the script of their life, and even though Mai desperately wanted to change it, to rearrange the letters the sealed her fate, she needed both her hand and his to rewrite their roles. And so, there she was, curled up against the arm of a couch, cradling her hurt hand, knowing that he would never continue her pathetically initiated conversation. In fact-

"And you?" Naru asked, his deep voice reverberating in the space between them, a lone rope stretching across the abyss.

Mai's thoughts fell apart at this words and she scrambled to form a coherent answer. He asked. He was responding, maybe just a little, but it was still something. Just as she opened her mouth to lie and say that she was fine, she stopped herself. Seeing as how he had actually gone and improvised off of their script, he, at the very least, deserved to hear the truth.

And so Mai let down her mask of the happy woman, and for maybe the first time in their relationship, she told him the absolute truth. But, old habits die hard, and she still couldn't let herself show how truly distraught she was. So, her words were spoken in a numb, jocular manner, almost as if she were relaying the morning news or the weather rather than a particularly disturbing dream.

"Oh, you know. Nothing big. Scary nightmares, living dolls dragging me across the floor, spirits, demons. The usual." Naru stopped flipping pages for a moment as he took this all in, but Mai didn't dare look at him to see how he took it. She simply gazed down at her wriggling toes, pretending they were little piggies.

Okay, now she felt like a fool. She should have just fudged it up, said something about being cold, not given him the details of her experience. That was how the script should have played out. But, like an idiot, she tried to go against it, knowing full well that it would hurt.

What did Mai expect, for him to tell her that it was all right? That it was going to be fine? He wasn't a compassionate man, he wouldn't try to cheer her up or comfort her. He was Dr. Oliver Davis, paranormal researcher extraordinaire.

She had been with him a long time, she should know who he was. And how he was. Naru despised contact, and he shied away from even the most basic human interactions. He wouldn't help her. In fact, Mai felt absolutely stupid for even trying. Just who did she think she was?

Mai knew she wasn't some glamorous supermodel, and that she had absolutely no chance of ever getting close to him. She knew that she was nothing compared to the great Dr. Oliver Davis. But that didn't stop her from trying. And wasn't that the worst thing? She would just keep trying.

No matter what he did to her, Mai would always hope that something would change. She had this eternal spark of hope, but it just made everything hurt even more. It doubled the blows of his insults, his disinterest, and his complete apathy towards her. She was just a piece of furniture by the wall to him. Oh look, the furniture's in trouble, gotta go save it cause it's too much of a pain to replace it.

She had always had a bit of a self-esteem problem, and being around Naru always seemed to just make it worse. He was just so perfect all the time, and just being in his presence made her start criticizing herself. Then she starting criticizing herself for criticizing herself, because _he_ was just so confident in everything he did.

Naru never let on that he didn't know something, and he always acted like he had everything in control. It was hard not to envy that, especially when it always seemed like she had absolutely nothing in control. He took everything so calmly. Being an orphan? He just seemed to shrug it off and go on. Mai could never hope to even forget her own status. And all this just made him even more unattainable, some deity that could only be worshiped from afar.

Never allowed to touch.

The man had probably never even had a nightmare, much less understood the paralyzing fear that accompanied one. Nor the strange desire to be around others after one, just to make sure that there were _others._ No, Dr. Oliver Davis was just perfect in every which way, and there was absolutely no chance that he would even dare to even give two thoughts to a woman like her.

In the midst of her despondent thoughts, Mai noticed that he had gone back to his reading. Of course. Naru was reacting as per her expectations: calmly collecting himself and going back to his work with no regard to her previous statements. Despite this, she still felt the sharp sting of disappointment. Expectations were one thing.

Hopes and wishes were another.

They resumed their silence, and sounds of the storm that was raging outside were the only noises in the room. Mai buried herself further in her blanket and tried to shut it out. Maybe Super Mai could fly away from it all, but regular old Mai was stuck right here. She unconsciously squeezed her injured hand tighter, too upset to even take the pain into account. Despite what she had expected, no, had known was going to happen, it didn't change the fact that she had wanted it _not to. _

She absolutely despised their routine- in fact, she found that she was completely sick of it all. Something had to happen. To change.

It scared her how desperate she was for it.

But not even her internal ranting changed a thing, for she was still laying on the couch, still curled up with her froggy blanket, still in pain from her injured hand and still completely in love with Naru. Mai started to pick herself up, to, at the very least, change her position on the couch, but a movement in front of her stopped her.

A plate of cookies.

Or rather, Naru's hand holding the plate out to her.

"Here." He said calmly, not even bothering to look at her while he said the word. Still, the fact that he was trying, actually _trying_, to comfort her prompted a flurry of emotions. Mai quickly reached out her hands, struggling a little to get them out from the blanket, and grasped the plate, taking it out of his hand.

She gave a small wince as her injured hand touched the plate, but she was far too ecstatic to care about it. She was too busy looking back at him, giving a strange relieved, happy smile as he took back his hand and returned to his work, trying to look like he hadn't done a thing at all.

But he had, he _had!_ The plate of cookies in her hands bore witness to it. Actually, they were her cookies, and they were slightly burnt at the edges- but still. It was the deed that had her in amazement, not the confections.

First off- really? Cookies? A scared woman is sitting inches away from him, and all that Naru could think of was to give her _cookies_? He must have had to think about it too, if he took so long. From any other man, this response would be disturbingly awkward, but coming from Naru, it was hopelessly endearing.

Lin had already told her that Gene had been the twin who had actually socialized around girls, and that Naru had spent most of his time just reading. So, the man really had, like, no experience at all around upset females. Heck, he had even tried to cheer her up with magic tricks once. And, sadly enough, it had worked.

Mai took one of the cookies and started to nibble on it, stopping every few moments to giggle, ecstatic at the fact that he had actually recognized her distress and reached out. Her emotions flew around with tornado force winds, tossing and turning her insides around. She was so happy that she had to stop eating, to put the plate aside because she was scared that if she ate it all, then there would be no proof.

It were the times like this that kept her going, that made her believe that maybe, just maybe, there was something inside him that wasn't completely cut off. The simple gesture of handing her a plate of baked goods was more than she had gotten in the longest time, and Mai felt a lump grow in her throat. He was just so, so -

The emotional high she was riding on fueled her next actions. She reached across the couch, pure happiness floating her across the abyss and she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning forward into a hug. Despite her happiness, she flinched at the cold, hard tone of his next words.

"What on earth are-"

"Thanks, Oliver." Mai cut him off with two words of her own, determined to get them out before she was forcibly removed.

For it had not been Naru that had reached out to her. No, Naru would have kept his distance, and would have only given a sneer at her pathetic troubles. It hadn't been Dr. Davis either, for he was high above her, untouchable to her petty concerns.

No, it had been Oliver, the young man, who, although bitter at the world, still had enough courage to respond and reach out to those who needed help. She almost never called him that, instead using her own nickname for him, but this was one of those rare moments that called for the use of his given name. Not in mockery, but in absolute truth.

Mai tensed up, preparing herself to be shoved away hard and bracing herself for the brutal sting the action would undoubtedly bring. But, to her surprise, nothing happened. He hadn't moved her, and, in fact, he seemed to have returned to his work, acting as if he didn't have her holding on to him.

She grinned at this, but she hid it by pressing it against the black cloth of his shirt. He wasn't returning her embrace, but he wasn't shoving her off either. Really, it was nothing more than an allowance.

And Mai found that she would take what she could get.

The problems she had been thinking about just moments earlier seemed to fade- not disappear- but fade away to the point where she could just forget about them. Recalling some of them, she started to chastise herself.

Naru really wasn't that heartless. Sure, he may ignore her sometimes, but that didn't mean that he was a horrible person. Just 'cause he wasn't nice most of the time didn't mean that he wasn't capable of it. Feeling a little overlooked didn't give her any right to think that ill of him.

He was a genius, he knew absolutely everything about the paranormal, and he had quite literally written the book on the subject. Even on a case, he would always try to help people, and he went out of his way to make sure that no one got hurt under his watch.

Even when she did get hurt, which was often, he would always be there when she got up. Even if he was usually there just to scold on her for getting hurt, well, then at least he was still there. That had to count for something, right?

There was definite good in him. Maybe it was a little hidden, but he had the potential to help people. He was already helping people with his ghost hunting business. And he was helping her right now by just letting her stay where she was, near him.

Sure, she would keep trying to reach him, but that might be the only way to actually, maybe, reach him one day. Mai remembered how Madoka had once told her how Naru had never really learned how to interact with people, and how he was so introverted sometimes, he cut them off. And that Mai had to keep trying to reach him, because if she ever stopped, even faltered for a moment, then that small tie between them would break.

And then Naru would simply build his walls up higher than before, making it even harder for anyone else to ever climb over.

Mai knew that she was probably the closest person Naru had, after the loss of Gene. No one else quite knew him like she did, and no one else quite knew her like he did. It was a connection born out of their similar situations, but still a connection weak and tenuous at best. He understood that she didn't want pity for her situation, and she understood that he didn't want mindless admiration of his psychic talents.

Still, even with this strange connection, Mai still had to struggle to get closer to him. He was just so _cold_ sometimes, and it was hard to get accustomed to that. He didn't like human contact, but he still needed it, a fact she wasn't sure he even knew. She knew that, even with his amazing accomplishments, he was still liable to go mad from isolation, just like anybody else.

Sadly though, he still tried to keep her and the rest of the team as far away as he could. Mai wasn't even sure why he did this. Did he think he was better than them? Or was he just scared of letting them closer, thinking that they would just abandon him if he did?

Either way, it was agonizingly hard to find a good quality about him when he kept doing that. Quite suddenly, she realized something. She was actually _close_ to him right now. With her arms around his neck, keeping him trapped in a one sided hug, Mai realized that she hadn't been this close to him since that room had collapsed, during that school case.

He had saved her from the majority of the rubble, and she had been trapped against him until help had come. Still, that instance had been when he had been unconscious, and therefore unknowing of it. Right now, while he did know that she was there, he seemed to be trying to ignore it, choosing instead to devote his time to reading though the folder in his hand. With a small blush, Mai was happy to report that he wasn't as skinny as he had been back then. And he was taller now. A definite plus.

All her previous fears about what laid in the dark seemed to melt away, and Mai was already laughing at some of them. Really, Minnie the doll was burnt to bits right now, she had seen the ashes herself. Her previous trembling slowly stopped as she relaxed further, leaning her head on his shoulder. She was was surprised that, despite the icy cloud that seemed to follow him around normally, Naru was actually quite warm. The heat floated around her, sending her mind into a daze.

From her position leaning against his chest, she could actually _feel_ his heart beating, slow and calm. She gave a small, muffled snort at this. He had a woman literally _sitting in his lap_, and he didn't even register her. Mai wasn't sure whether to laugh at the pure absurdity of their situation or crawl backwards into a depression. In the end, she did neither, choosing instead to take a small comfort in that he actually had a heart.

So, he really was just human. Not some impossible deity in the distance, not some demon from the lowest pit of hell, no, he was just the same as everybody else. Yasuhara owed her five bucks. He had bet that Naru was secretly a vampire trying to gain their trust before he killed them all.

As hilarious as that would be, it would seem that, for once, Yasuhara was mistaken. Naru was human. Maybe a frighteningly powerful one with enough psychic power to kill a god- but still, human. This meant that, no matter how much he tried to hide them, he had to have some kind of insecurities, some faults. He had to have had a nightmare once, and he had to have felt afraid at one point in his life. If nothing else, it gave her hope.

Hope that maybe it could work. Maybe she could make it through to him someday. Sure, they may have their share of troubles, but maybe it would all turn all right in the end.

Her nightmare was all but gone now, replaced by an all encompassing sense of calm. He always managed to calm her down. It was something to do with the way he carried himself, the way he just _was_, that sent her fears and troubles running far away. Even during the Urado case, the only reason she had stopped crying after the vision had been because of him.

Although, in truth, the tears had been a bit of his fault as well. Not completely, of course, there was the the matter of that horrible vision, and the knife, and the bloody tiles, and red liquid everywhere, on the walls, the floors, and her blood, oh god, her blood, spurting out and she was dying, dying, _dying_-

Mai took a deep breath to steady herself and stop her ridiculous shaking. With a start, she realized that she had inadvertently squeezed Naru closer during her freak out, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he leaned back, slouching out of his rigid posture, to allow her more room. She was grateful.

The dream really hadn't been the worst psychic vision she had ever had, but it stood out only because it was the first horrible one. And when she had woken up, with Ayako calling her, she had started crying, yes, and it had been for a lot of reasons. Like the whole dying bit.

But Mai had only started the real waterworks after she had looked around the room. Ayako Bou-san, Yasuhara, Masako, heck, even _Lin_ had been there. Not Naru.

And it had felt so _wrong._

Like something had been fundamentally wrong with entire situation and Mai had been struck by the thought, no, the _knowledge_, that he was supposed to be there, with her. Because he was, in many ways, her pillar of strength. She may dissolve into despair, but he would always stand tall against the odds.

No matter what had happened, or bad it had ever looked, Naru had always been there. He had saved her so many times that he had become a distinct part of her, one that she could never forget or leave behind. There was a peculiar balance between them, one that she could see even now.

Mai could feel his chest moving up and down with his breathing, and she flushed brightly at this. She pressed her face against his shirt to hide it and sent a quick prayer thanking whatever gods there were that he couldn't see it.

It was strange, though. Even now, they had still managed to fall into a rhythm. He breathed out, she breathed in. She breathed out, he breathed in. It wasn't exact, but they were in a strange sort of sync, nevertheless.

How peculiar it was that it was him, of all the people in the world, that she had this connection with. He was the one she had met in that dark classroom. He was the one who had offered her the job. He was the one who always seemed to be there when she was in trouble.

When she had been dragged into that manhole by the freaky child-ghost, he had been the one to save her, and move the rubble so that they could land safely. When they had been facing down that horrifying god, Ebisu, Naru had been right there, destroying it. No matter what, he was always _there_.

Even by just walking into her life, he had saved her. He had given her a stable pay-check, and he had introduced her to the people who would later become her family. Even now, after she had just had a horrific nightmare, he was the one who showed up right on her couch, right when she needed him the most. That was why she had been so upset after the vision.

Because he hadn't been there.

Mai remembered thinking about how her 'Dream-Naru' was always there, with his smile. She remembered wishing for that small comfort. But now, she realized that that hadn't been the whole truth. She had just wanted Naru to just comfort her, not a substitute. She had wanted him to say that she was going to be fine in his irritatingly calm voice, and to start scolding her for not telling them that she had felt uneasy.

She had wanted that return to normalcy and irritation that he brought with him. Mai could finally see she had just wanted him to be there to give the comfort that she just knew he was capable of.

She had cried out of disappointment.

But, then Naru had come, with his rumpled gray pajamas, and she had almost laughed. Even if he hadn't said any comforting words to her, or even smiled, she had calmed down. Her hands hadn't even been shaking when she had taken the cup from him. She had been at ease. Because everything had been all right again. He was there, and he would fix everything.

The tea in itself hadn't been really good, he had probably just reheated some of the tea she had made before, but that wasn't the real issue. The real issue was that he had given it to her. The tea was a sign that he wasn't a heartless monster, that he could care, and that he felt some amount of affection towards her, or at least enough to care about how she was.

Mai wasn't sure how much of her reaction had been her own, and how much had been her spiritual instinct's, but that didn't matter. He was someone very precious to her, no matter what her freaky spiritual instinct put her through. He had good in him, and she would never leave until he understood that.

She felt calmer than she had in months, just being near him right now. Even now, Mai felt utterly content in her position, and she took a deep breath, trying to commit this moment into her memory. He, unsurprisingly, smelled of old papers and tea, and this served to make the situation more real to her.

He was actually here. Naru was actually here. He wasn't some hallucination that her subconscious had thought up to stave off insanity from the loneliness, or an impossible deity far above her, he was a person who was _here_. She wasn't alone. Mai buried her her head deeper into the crook of her neck and felt his pulse, low and steady against her checks. He was real.

She let out a deep, content sigh at this, sure in the knowledge that he was not an illusion. This movement seemed to annoy Naru, for he stopped his reading with a sharp intake of breath. Mai realized that her time was up, and that he had become irritated with her presence. She gave another sigh, because she had known that this had been bound to happen.

Despite whatever intentions he had originally had, he was still Naru, and he was still the cold, cut off individual that she worked for. He would never tolerate her presence for long, and, in fact, she was actually surprised that he had allowed her to stay for this long.

So, slowly, but surely, Mai unwillingly peeled herself off of him. She reached out her hand as she attempted to smooth down his shirt, which was already a little rumpled. She gave an apologetic look up at his face, but froze at the strange look in his eyes.

Normally, Naru was the epitome of control, but right now his eyes were darker than she had ever seen them, and they flared with some strong emotion. For half a second, Mai thought that he was going to grab her by the arm and _pull her right back._

But the moment passed, and his eyes cooled down until they returned to the icy rocks that they always were. He returned to his reading, acting like nothing had happened. Leaving Mai confused, and her heart racing from the possibilities.

She shook her head, trying to dislodge her presumptions, and then inched backwards, picking up her crumpled up blanket, which had been strewn across the couch from her movement. He had probably been mad at her, yes, that was it.

But, then again, if there was one thing that Mai knew, it was how Naru was when he was angry. She had almost memorized that particular expression, right down to the disapproving frown. And that look hadn't been the same angry look.

No- she couldn't do this! Double thinking it would only drive her completely nuts. Mai gathered the blanket closer around her, trying to warm up. After staying so close to him for all that time, she was feeling the sharp bite of the cold more than before. Her injured hand had been pressed against the couch at an awkward angle, so it stung a little more.

She winced as she tried to massage the feeling back into it, knowing that it would hurt even more tomorrow. The storm still raged outside, and every few moments, she would hear the loud _'boom'_ of thunder and the _'crack'_ of lightning, coming together to create a crescendo of sound that echoed in the small apartment.

As happy as Mai had been in those few moments, the aftermath was absolutely maddening. The very air between them seemed strained and awkward. She knew that Naru didn't like human contact, and now he was probably thinking that she was pathetic for needing that small bit of comfort. She almost regretted it. Almost.

Mai sat still until she could stand it no longer, and then she reached out her hand for the small remote on the table. Maybe a distraction would do the trick. With a soft 'ping', the television turned on and she winced as sound blared out from the commercial.

"BUY IT NOW! Only two easy payments of -"

She fumbled with the controls, pressing every one in hopes of turning it down. But, the commercial seemed to be getting even louder! Mai struggled a little longer, maddeningly aware of Naru's growing ire. With a _'humpf'_, she gave up and smashed the remote down on the table, hoping to do something.

The noise stopped immediately, and she looked up to see that she had somehow pressed the mute button. The man on the television was still talking, but his lips moved soundlessly. She looked over at Naru, grinning at her accomplishment, and he responded by just raising at brow at her reaction, although he did have on a particular smirk that Mai had long ago recognized as his way of showing amusement.

And with this, the air between them cleared, and she began to breathe easier. The strangeness of that earlier moment had been completely forgotten with her panicky attempts to stop the obnoxious sound.

This twisty, laughable air that had come out of her making a fool of herself was Normal. Normal was predicable, was safe. Mai flicked through the channels with the now cracked remote, unable to stop from keeping a bright grin on her face. Nothing interesting was on, so she just kept going.

At one channel, Mai stopped abruptly. Well, she hadn't watched this in a while. She leaned back as she raised the volume. She didn't even have to look at Naru to tell that he was giving her a weird look for her choice of entertainment.

Well, she could understand that. For most twenty two year old women, bloody horror movies weren't the best thing to watch after a nightmare. But then again, Mai had never really been normal. She watched the monster chase the screaming woman down the stairs, and she gave a snort at how the actress' makeup didn't even smudge a bit.

Really, when you're running away from a horrific beast, makeup _always_ smeared. And, she thought as she eyed the actress' shine free face, you always sweat from the terror. Really, Mai had become a bit of an expert in these matters. Loads of experience. As the female lead finally got cornered by the fireplace, and started screaming bloody murder, Naru decided to speak up.

"Are you sure that this is the best thing to watch?" _After you just had a nightmare._ These were his unspoken words, and Mai knew him well enough to understand that he wasn't so much criticizing her as he was asking for her reasons. And she decided that, in repayment for all his recent allowances, she would be completely straightforward in her answer.

She started off slow, struggling to find the words. "It's not that its not scary, it's that...well, it's not real."

Judging by his blank expression, Naru didn't get it. Floundering now, she tried to convey it visually. Mai pointed to the television screen, where the monster was standing over the cowering figure of the woman. "You see, even if anything happens," The monster raised its sharp talons above its head and started to slash downwards.

"I can just change it." And with those words, she pressed the channel down button, changing the channel to one where a cartoon show about sheep was playing. Choosing her next words carefully, she said them slowly and softly. "You can't do that with life. It's a nice feeling to be able to do it with a movie. You know?"

Mai looked back at Naru, hoping that he understood what he was trying to say, and she was taken back to see him staring right back at her, a strange, foreign look passing through his eyes. His words were slow as he answered "I believe so."

She was forced to look away quickly, before she made a complete fool of herself by blushing. God, did that man have thick lashes. And beautiful eyes. Although, she was a little uneasy of the fact that she hadn't known what look he had had in his eyes. With a soft shock, she found that, even with all her experience in reading him, she had absolutely no idea what had been going through his mind at that moment.

And that scared her. If there was one thing Mai could pride herself on, it was that she could always tell his moods. She had actually gotten quite proficient at it, and the fact that she didn't know this one unsettled her. Already, her mind was jumping to conclusions, and she forced herself to slow down. She didn't want to over-examine it, in fear that she would come to the wrong conclusion. And getting it bluntly corrected would hurt too much.

But that look was still a change, right? They had gone off the script, maybe by just a line or two, but it was still a deviation from their Normal. This was what she had wanted, right?

But still, she hadn't expected something like this. Mai had wanted the change to be something predicable, something safe, not for something like this, where she couldn't read his expressions anymore. While this did mean that he was now maybe letting more of himself out, it also meant that she would have to adjust to this as well.

Mai clenched her jaw at this thought. Well, as long as there was a change, she would deal with it. It may just be an infinitesimal shift in their relationship, but it was just the beginning. This was just one of the first of many more planks they needed to build a bridge across the abyss between them. She would just have to keep trying, because this small moment had shown her that there was still hope for him, hope for them. Besides, she had never been a quitter.

Despite this new-found optimism of the road ahead, there was still a fair amount of anxiety. What if this wasn't a good change? What if that look had been _pity_? Mai could deal with a lot from Naru, including his insults, his standoffish behavior and the icy distance that he placed in between them, but she didn't think she would be able to handle his pity.

She groaned and massaged her temple with her unbruised hand, as this thought was giving her a splitting headache. She had to stop thinking about this. In an effort to distract herself, Mai pressed another button on the remote, and found that the monster was moving onto its next victim.

Mai gave a grin at its ridiculous antics. She had always loved horror stuff, ever since she had been a little girl. In fact, when she had first met Naru, she had been in an empty classroom, telling scary stories. Mai found that it was easier to let herself get scared by them than to think about the frightening reality. The real world was so much scarier than a fictional one.

In a horror film, all the characters had their own problems, and it was easy to let yourself get caught up in them. That way, a person could forget all their real issues, and lose themselves to the adrenaline rush of a good scaring. Plus, whenever things got too real or scary, you could just move on and stop watching! Life didn't have a pause button, you couldn't stop it, but in a horror film, you could completely abandon your terror at any moment by just turning it off.

Mai had watched horror movies all the time when she was little. Whenever her mom had gotten sad after a bunch of bills had come, they would just sit on the couch and watch a scary movie, forgetting everything as they tried to throw popcorn in each others mouths. She herself would soon fall asleep from the exhaustion, but then her mom would sleep together with her on the couch.

And everything would be all right.

Mai had neglected to watch them for a while, but now seemed like the perfect time to restart that habit. Taking a quick peek at Naru, she saw that he was still immersed in his work. He really needed to relax a bit more. Maybe she would invite him to watch with her a couple times. Or maybe she would just force him to come. It all depended on his answer.

She yawned suddenly, stretching her mouth as wide as it would go. Mai knew that she should be going back to her bed right about now, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to be alone again. Really, she liked that Naru was coming over so often, because, even though he wasn't much company, he was still someone to fill up the emptiness.

Mai knew that she should be used to this, used to how alone she was in her own home, but she found that she could never quite get over the deafening silence that simply served to drum reality into her head. And right now, curled up on the couch, a few feet away from Naru, Mai felt a little less lonely. She made a mental note to make him some tea to repay him for all this.

She wasn't alone when she was with him, and having him around reminded her of the fact that she did have others in her life. The team was her family, and Mai knew that they thought of her as the same. Her previous thoughts had just been mistakes, small, passing thoughts that had been spurred on by the fear she had felt from the nightmare.

The team had made it clear multiple times, Bou-san especially, that they would always be there for her, no matter what happened. Still, it was so strange that it had been Naru that had reminded her of this. There really was something about the man that just seemed to calm her down and make her happy again.

She snuggled into her froggy blanket, and watched the world grow blurry. She made sure to keep her bruised hand close to her, so that she wouldn't accidentally turn over on it in her sleep. Despite the raging storm outside, the hum of the television and the sheer proximity to Naru were quickly lulling her off to sleep.

Mai fought for a few moments to stay awake, for she was unwilling to let this moment pass so easily. Besides, she still didn't trust Naru not to dump her on the floor and leave her there for the night, like he had last time. Yet, the deep ache of exhaustion pressed down harder and within moments, she was fast asleep.

It was dark.

Mai hung for her life, her hands gripping the edge of dark hole. Her eyes widened in terror at the sight of the spirits leaning over her, waiting for her to fall. Minnie was taking matters into its own delicate hands, currently using its small digits to peel her fingers away from the edge. The face of Urado stood above her, giving a maniac grin at her desperate cries.

"Help! Please, anyone! HELP!"

She cried, screaming so loud that her throat hurt, but even she didn't expect any answer. She was all alone here, and besides, who would even want to save her? Mai gave another cry as Minnie managed to make her lose her hold in her left hand. She almost fell before her right hand started to instinctively grip down harder. She winced at how the wood dug into the injury she had received from Urado. She tried to push past it, struggling to keep her hold.

But what was the use? Better to die now, while it was still her choice. Nobody was coming for her. Besides, she was worthless. There was nothing to gain from her life, and as such, there was nothing to lose from her death. It was the cold, hard truth. Plus, it wasn't surrendering if it was her choice.

Minnie seemed to pause as well, confused by how the screaming had stopped. It was obvious that it had been enjoying them. Well, Mai wasn't going to let them get the satisfaction of killing her. Never. So, giving a defiant glare back at the menacing spirits, she decisively let go.

She tensed, preparing herself to hit the bottom hard, or to at least be eaten by some grotesque demon on the way, but to her surprise, neither happened. In fact, she didn't feel like she was falling at all. Mai pried one eyelid open, and saw that she was rising rather than falling. Well, wasn't that peculiar? She looked up to see a figure outside the hole, its hands gripping hers as it pulled her out.

Mai strained to see its face, and she gasped as a sharp light suddenly illuminated his features. Naru! The moment her feet touched the ground, she rushed forward to thank him, but she stopped as she looked around. The others were here too!

Ayako, Bou-san, John, Masako, Yasuhara, Lin and even Madoka! Their faces smiled back at her, and Mai couldn't help but get a little choked up. They had come. They did care. She started to rub her eyes, unwilling to let them see her cry. It wasn't that she was sad, not at all. Mai found that she was actually happier than she had ever been.

She was quickly swept up by the strong arms of Bou-san, who spun her around before the others crowded in. Their voices joined together, a spiraling crescendo of assurances and happy greetings.

"Really Mai, can't we leave you alone for two minutes?" Yasuhara teased as he glanced at the dark hole beside her. Ayako followed his words with a snort.

"Like we ever left." She turned to Mai and continued, crossing her arms. "We were just a little away, you could have gotten us at any time."

"Maybe she just didn't want to see us." Masako added on, dainty and composed as she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her elegant kimono.

"Who cares, we're here now, right?" Bou-san interjected and continued at Mai, wagging his finger in what would be a severe gesture, but was made lighter by the large grin on his face. "And you, little missy, don't you ever scare us like that again!"

Mai laughed at their concern, as it was just so _normal_ considering what had just happened. She raised her head, and found that Naru was looking straight back at her, a foreign expression on his face. He had done this. He had saved her. Mai couldn't help but open her mouth to say "Thank you."

Thank you for saving me. Thank you for making this possible. Thank you for everything. Sheer emotion choked her up before she could say the rest. Naru simply nodded his head, like he hadn't done a single thing at all. Mai felt a rush of _something_ at this action, but she couldn't quite put it into words. As she opened her mouth to try, an insane shriek rang through the air.

The spirits! They were still here, and they walked right out of the shadows around them, glaring pure malice at the team. Mai took a few step back, trying to flee, but a pressure at her wrist stopped her. She turned to see Naru, his face seemingly impassive, but she could still make out the traces of an expression. Years of constant contact with him served their purpose, as Mai found that she could read him and his unspoken message as clearly as others would an open book.

_Stand up for yourself. Stop running._

She smiled back at him, a bright expression that was at odds with the horror around them. Turning her head, Mai glared right back at the spirits, and she tensed up in anticipation of the first attack. The others started to surround her, trying to protect her, but she would have nothing of it. Mai pushed her way out, unwilling to be mindlessly saved, like some sort of princess.

They may have helped save her, but she had spent far too much time trying to become independent. She wouldn't rely solely on them, and she wouldn't let their pain be her fault.

She elbowed her way to the front, and found herself standing right beside Naru. Not behind him, being coddled like a child. Right by his side. The spirits surged forward, and Mai gave a great whoop of excitement as she got into position for the nine words.

Her family and friends stood all around her, helping her. And Mai found that, despite the wave of malevolent spirits heading straight towards them, she wasn't scared in the least.

Why would she be?

She wasn't alone anymore.

**A/N: Hello! I don't own Ghost Hunt!**

**First, let me thank you all for your wonderful reviews about 'Wasteland'. They had me all giddy and happy! One common thing I have to address is that I won't be continuing the story until I get the rest of the AUs out. I have around five more I need to finish and upload. Then I'll write some more on 'Wasteland'. I'm so happy that you all liked it, though! I hope you like the others just as much.  
><strong>

**I had a lot of fun writing this scene. It went through a bunch of revisions though, and it was a definite pain to edit. It was also originally going to be only 3000 words. That didn't work out at all. Anybody else notice that everything I write just seems to keep getting longer?**

** Really, there's just too much to write and sometimes it feels like my fingers aren't going fast enough! So, that just might just be my uploading style from now on. I may not upload very often, but whatever I do will be rather large. This does not bode well for those awaiting the next update of The Dawn Daydreamer.**

**And yes, this chapter is totally an attempt to placate those people who are waiting. Did it work?  
><strong>

**This chapter is a bit of a behind the scenes peek of The Dawn Daydreamer. It's situated between chapters 3 and 4 of it, actually. I couldn't fit it in there, so I just put it here. Events like this are happening a lot behind the scenes, and they're all adding up to the major events in The Dawn Daydreamer. **

**You guys have to understand that there is a bit of gap in time between each chapter, in which many other not so important events are happening. This isn't a very important event plot-wise, which is why it's not in The Dawn Daydreamer, but I thought you guys might get a kick out of it.  
><strong>

**I tried not to have a lot of mention of Spiritual instinct, so that it's not necessary for you guys to read The Dawn Daydreamer before reading this. So, this can be read as a standalone! Although, those who haven't read The Dawn Daydreamer may find themselves confused as to why Mai is living directly above the SPR office. And who exactly she punched.  
><strong>

**My fingers are itching to start writing this from Naru's perspective. I had to fight a little not to suddenly add some of it in this chapter. This was meant to be only Mai's thoughts, her insecurities and whatnot. Naru's thoughts parallel hers, and his perspective of this will be shown in The Dawn Daydreamer, but not for a while. For those people who really wanna know, here's a small spoiler: Not a single page was read in its entirety while Mai was there.  
><strong>

**I really hope you guys like this, cause I have a couple more behind the scenes stuff for you. I haven't started any of them, so right now I'm actually going to leave it up to you guys on which one is next. I'm having a lot of fun writing these, and I want you all to enjoy them just as much! So, I'm going to do a bit of a poll. Which one do you guys want next? The first is about spring cleaning, where Mai attempts to get Naru to help out. The second is about Mai getting sick with a cold.  
><strong>

**And the third has Naru giving Mai an interview for her job. One special one, number 0, is actually set during the actual Ghost Hunt time line, during the case with Ebisu. So, it's up to you guys, which one do you guys want next? You are all also free to ask for a continuation of one of the snippets in the first chapter.  
><strong>

**The next thing that would actually be uploaded will be another AU situation, if I can manage to untangle all those pesky errors. It would be in Naru's head, and it would be set in an asylum for psychic youths. No worries, Mai will be there as well. In a manner of speaking.**

**Darned, this is one heck of a long A/N. Sorry bout that, I tend to ramble.  
><strong>

**Anyways, thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it!  
><strong>


End file.
